Motherhood, Health, and Beauty. Served straight-up and gluten-free with a side of sass.

The Return of Weigh-in Wednesdays

It’s here! At last! The much anticipated (by probably two people) return of Weigh-in Wednesdays on the blog!

A little backstory first. I joined Weight Watchers in 2015 and lost almost 40 lbs on the Points Plus program. I quit that program in the spring of 2016 after they switched to Smart Points and I could not for the life of me make it work for me in a healthy way. It was too harsh, too restrictive, too punitive to be sustainable for me. My father-in-law was diagnosed with Stage 4 Glioblastoma (extremely nasty and aggressive brain cancer) in the summer of 2016. And all my hard work went basically straight out the window as I ran straight back to emotional eating as a coping mechanism. To make matters more complicated, I got pregnant around Christmas in 2016 after gaining almost all of the weight back. We lost my father-in-law in April of 2017. I had my rainbow baby (affectionately known as Judah Bear) in September of 2017– despite sciatica, a host of other complications, and gestational diabetes. My weight now is the highest it has ever been. And while I tried to get on a diet and exercise program ASAP after having Judah, I found my breastmilk supply suffered from it, so decided to put off trying again until he was six months old– knowing by then, he wouldn’t be in any real danger if my supply suffered, as I’d have expressed milk frozen while I troubleshoot and also hopefully he’d be doing well with solids. (Which he is.) I stepped on the scale a couple weeks ago for the first time in months and the number I saw absolutely shocked me. It wasn’t the first indicator I had that my weight gain was getting out of control, but it was enough to kick me into gear.

So. Last week I took the plunge and decided to try the newest Weight Watchers plan, which is called Smart Points Freestyle. I’m one week in and so far, still very much experimenting. I’m committed to the next three months with WW. I’m hoping it’ll stick, but I’m also a little bit skeptical being that I’m still nursing and the original Smart Points program burned me SO BAD. But I’m thrilled to be back with my group of primarily older Edina ladies who are so deeply, deeply precious to me and the most awesome WW leader on the face of the planet. We all burst into tears at my first time back last week. It was really hard and also really sweet.

The Numbers: Down, much to my surprise! I worked really hard last week and then pretty much blew it on Sunday, even though I had no intention of doing so. But I know what I need to do to see them keep going down, so I’m focusing on that.

Non-Scale Victories: After a binge that went farther than it should have, I GOT RID OF ALL THE EASTER CANDY. All of it. Even Mojo’s. And while I felt pretty bad about that at first, he didn’t even notice. And he hasn’t asked for it. So. Lemons. Lemonade. And my first non-scale victory in the books.

This Week’s Goals: Track everything with accuracy and integrity. It may seem ridiculous that anyone trying to lose weight would try to fudge the numbers while tracking rather than just not tracking it at all. But I did. And I’ve done it before. And I’m willing to bet I’ll do it again. But when I’m trying out a brand new program and hoping to see how/if it will work for me, it’s extra ridiculous to do it now.